Many people wake up with varying degrees of congestion in their nasal passages. Such congestion can be quite uncomfortable, and can disturb the sleep of the person with congested nasal passages. Some people take medication or use elaborate medical apparatus to relieve nighttime congestion. It has been found that keeping the chin up and the mouth closed during sleep causes people to instinctively and naturally breath through their nose, thus keeping the nasal passages more clear of congestion and allowing more restful sleep.
Prior art anti-snoring mouthpieces are not believed to be widely used. Some of these devices require inserting an object into the nose or mouth, which can be uncomfortable. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,636 is a flexible sheet having an adhesive back that is used to tape a user's mouth closed while sleeping, thereby causing the user to breath through their nose. The device in U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,636 immobilizes both the lower and the upper lips as it covers the mouth. The device therefore prevents the user from naturally coughing or otherwise naturally expelling air, moisture or phlegm through the mouth while sleeping, or during brief periods of waking. The user of such a device risks the possibility (or at least the fear) of backblasting air or phlegm into their nasal passages or lungs if they cough while sleeping. Also, the device can be blasted off entirely.
It can therefore be appreciated that it would be desirable, at least for people suffering from nighttime nasal congestion, to provide a product that is convenient to use, and that is capable of keeping a user's mouth naturally closed while sleeping without running the risk of backblast.
It is known in the art to use nasal passage dilators to keep the nasal passages open and promote effective breathing through the nose. Such dilators have been used to reduce mouth breathing while sleeping, thus reducing congestion that can occur with mouth breathing while sleeping. An external nasal passage dilator such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,091, by Bruce C. Johnson, entitled "Dilator for Anatomical Outer Wall Tissues Which is Adhesively Mounted" provides a convenient way to help keep a user's nasal passages open during sleep thus reducing nasal blockages that can lead to sleep disturbances, sleep irregularities, snoring, or a combination thereof. However, while the use of a nasal passage dilator may help to keep a user's nasal passages open, such dilators do not provide mechanical means to keep the user's mouth closed during sleep.